Engineers can make ammunition, explosives, armor and contraptions that will help him and his party. If you want to make quick money from your Professions Engineering isn't the one for you. However, higher level items created with Engineering are very useful in both PvE and PvP and as it's quite time consuming to collect the components to create the item you may be able to sell the finished products to Engineers with less patience than yourself. Only Engineers can use items created with Engineering so your market will be limited to those in the profession. Engineering is a Primary Production Profession. How do I become an Engineer? You need to locate a Trainer to train as an Apprentice Engineer. It's free and costs no skill points either. Both Trainers and Suppliers {of schematics (plans) and components} can be found in the following locations: Engineering Trainer Locations Barrens : Tinkerwiz in Ratchet Engineering Supplier Locations Barrens : Gagsprocket in Ratchet You can train to four levels of proficiency and each has certain prerequisites that you need to meet before you are able to progress to the next level of proficiency. You need to be a character level of 5 or above to begin training.
Trainers can only train to the proficiency level below their level, so, for example, to become an Expert Engineer you need to train with a Artisan or Master Trainer and to reach Artisan proficiency you'll need a Master Trainer to teach you. Aren't there two different types of Engineers? Engineering takes a twist when you reach Expert level. At this level of proficiency you reach a fork in the road and you can take one or two routes. Either you concentrate your further training in the art of Goblin Engineering or you go for Gnome Engineering. It doesn't matter which race you are however. Once you've chosen which you can not create {you can use} any of the items available to the other discipline. This choice is given to you via the Manual of Engineering Disciplines, along with two quests. Accept one quest for Goblin {in Gadgetzan} or the other for Gnome {in Booty Bay} Engineering. It costs you no skill points to learn whichever you choose. You will need to complete your chosen quest first to prove your competence before being granted membership to the discipline. Your membership card will last for 2 weeks and renewal costs 2 gold {you get a free gift on renewal!}. This will give you continued access to new schematics in your chosen branch. Your existing plans aren't affected if your membership lapses. Gnomish and Goblin-made items can be used by any Engineer, as long as their engineering skill is a high enough level. Gnome Engineering The Gnomes as a race tend to excel in the design of items intended to manipulate and control the world around them. While they maintain a cursory understanding of explosives and weaponry, Gnome engineering focuses instead on items that quite literally try to make life easier and more accessible. In a word, gadgets. Goblin Engineering As a race that finds itself as neutral in almost every conflict, Goblins have taken great steps to turn science into profit. They embrace the practical applications of engineering, as evident in their radical designs of explosives, firearms, and machinery. Goblin engineering only maintains a passing interest in engineering theory; their inventions usually don't have the issue of not working, but rather working too well. In a word Bombs. How do I get materials to Engineer with?
Mining is quite a good Profession to make money with too, selling to Smiths and other Engineers alike. Engineering can be quite a convoluted process. For example, to create a Target Dummy requires that you have a piece of Wool cloth, a Bronze bar which in turn is made from 1 Copper bar and 1 Tin bar. You will also need some Copper Bolts {made from 1 Copper Bar} and 1 Copper Modulator {to make this you will need 2 Handful of Copper Bolts, 1 Copper Bar and 2 Linen Cloth}. So it's one of the more fiddly Trade Skills and although you can get some pretty cool items {with higher level plans} this may not be worth the considerable time and effort needed to get there. You may prefer to just trade for the individual components instead. Other components you will need can be found as loot from monsters or will have to be bought from Engineering and General Suppliers (such as Weak Flux, Wooden Stock, Parchment).
You will also need to trade with other players for components created with other Professions such as Frost Oil (made by Alchemists) and Nightcrawlers (caught from Fishing) Dusky Belt (made by Leatherworkers). What can I create?
There will be a number of tools you need too. A Blacksmith's Hammer which you can buy from a Blacksmith supplier, an Arclight Spanner and to a lesser extent and for mid to higher level schematics a Gryromatic Micro-Adjuster both of which you can create yourself. These need to be in your backpack to use and you don't equip either of them, they just need to be in your bag. A lot of the time you will need to be near an Anvil to make things. A list of Anvils can be found at the top of this page. Once you have the required components you may begin creating. Creating items will increase your level in Engineering but only schematics that are a higher level than your Engineering skill level. Thankfully, you'll notice that the schematics in your list are colour coded and below is a key to those colours:
You will never fail creating something {as is the case in some other games}. You will be able to create clothes, ammunition, bombs, augments for weapons and trinkets. You can find details of all the schematics available to Engineers on this page. Why are engineering items "Engineer" Only? A great many items created with Engineering can be used by Engineers only, however there are a few that can be used by anyone who meets the level requirement. Guns, ammunition, EZ-Throw Dynamite, Mechanical Squirrels and Scopes and Spyglasses. Below is an explanation from Blizzard's Lead Professions Designer on a couple of issues that were raised during the beta regarding Engineering's usability. To recap on the Engineering basics:
|
What is an Engineer?
Many you can loot from monster drops such as linen and leather, some will come from mining mineral veins {for copper, tin, gems, stone etc} and vendors also sell engineering supplies. You can trade with other players to save you the effort of collecting. However, it's advisable to train in 
Once you have trained as an apprentice the Engineering icon will appear in your Skills & Abilities book {Hotkey P}. It's best to drag this to your action bar so it's handy. Pressing this will activate your list of schematics learnt. You simply need all the components to follow a schematic.